CANADIENS FORWARD THOMAS PLEKANEC SUSPENDED FOR TWO GAMES

Montreal Canadiens forward Tomas Plekanec has been suspended for two games without pay by the NHL. Plekanec slew footed Edmonton Oilers defenseman Denis Grebeshkov in the second period of last night's 7-2 Canadiens loss to the Oilers.Plekanec will $17,204.30 fin for the hit. The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. In my opinion I do not think he should of got suspended for that because according to the replays I saw Grebeshkov just fall on his own Plekanec did not touch him.

Written by Andrew Di Pardo

Habs get blown-out again

The Canadiens were looking to back to there wining ways last night, but thats not what happened as they allowed 7 goals in the 7-2 lose to the Edmonton Oilers.Montreal captain Saku Koivu told TSN he wishes he had the answers for what is plaguing his team at the moment."It's been going on for a while, and for the last three games, the way we've done it, it's not fun to be a part of," he said. "I don't have a solution right now, but it's not just going to take one or two guys." Even though the Canadiens had 34 shots on Roliston they just could not score." There's 27 games left, we have find a way to turn our game around or else we will not make the playoffs."Gorge Laraque told Sportsnet. Ca. Carey Price made 20 saves in the lose. The Canadiens next game will be on Friday against the Avalanche at 9:00pm E.T and 7:00PM P.T on RDS and TSN.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Tonight Canadiens will look to snap out of their losing streak against the Oilers.

In tonight's match-up between the Montreal Canadiens and the Edmonton Oilers,Oilers Defense-man Sheldon Souray will be facing his former team for the first time in his Career.Souray has recorded 62 goals,98 assist which adds up to 160 points in 5 seasons on the Montreal Canadiens." It's going to be fun to face my old team. I just hope we come out of the game with a win." Former Canadien's defenceman Sheldon Souray said. The Oilers have lost 5 of their last seven games coming into tonight's match against the Canadiens.( Who are also stuggling just winning 2 out of their last 10 games.)

In my opinion these are 2 struggling teams who have to start playing tough and getting points on the board."In the Western Conference now, every team is in it," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "We're competitive and we battle hard. We've just been short against the best teams in the league.""The first thing is to really try and forget the last two weeks," Montreal captain Saku Koivu said. "We can't feel sorry for ourselves and we know the situation that we're in. We're the only ones that are going to dig ourselves out of that hole." Carey Price will get the start tonight for the Habs, as Dowan Rolistan will get the start for the Oilers.The puck drop for this game will be at 10:08PM E.T and 8:08 pm P.T on Sportsnet-W and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Canadiens get blowout by the Flams by the score of 6-2

The Calgary Flames had lost 4 in-a-row going into the game against the Canadiens,Where they finally got a win by the score of 6-2."We're really happy with the way we played. That's the kind of game we were looking for - a lot of energy and playing a full 60 minutes," said Lombardi, who had two assists.Matthew Lombardi,Dion Phanuf, Dustin Boyd,Michael Cammalleri, Rene Bourque and David Moss scored the goals for the Flames in the victory. As for the Canadiens, Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainy held a meeting about how they have been playing as of late."A lot of good things were said. Hopefully it's a step in the right direction," said Montreal all-star defenceman Mike Komisarek."The first thing is to really try and forget the last two weeks," said Montreal captain Saku Koivu. "We can't feel sorry for ourselves and we know the situation that we're in. We're the only ones that are going to dig ourselves out of that hole".The Canadiens next game will be on Wedsnday against the Oilers at 9:00pm E.T and 7:00pm P.T on RDS And Sportsnet-P.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Montreal Canadiens fall 5-2 to the Toronto Maple Leafs

Before the game Toronto goalie Vesa Toskala was facing alot of criticism by Leafs G.M. Brian Burk and Leafs coach Ron Wilson."He has been inconsistent at best,A team in our situation, we require solid effort from our goalies every single night and that hasn't necessarily been the case." Wilson said before the game.Toskala answered to all the criticism by making 31 saves on 33 shots,which would lead to a 5-2 victory for the Leafs. Toskala's most important save of the game was when the Leafs were leading 2-1 and Chris Higgins got a breakaway late in the Second period, Higgins shot the puck into the glove hand of Toskala."I don't waste my energy on what goes on in the media, I'm just focused on playing hockey," said Toskala. "It doesn't matter what goes on outside."

"Mitchell passes the puck to Van Ryn to Schenn he shoots he scores, First goal for Shenn."Jim Hustin said duruing the CBC broadcast of Toronto A.t Montreal. Schenn who scored 0 goals all season finaly got a goal on the score board last night which I'm sure he's happy about that."Yeah, they let me know that I hadn't scored a goal yet this year, so it was definitely nice to get it, and there's no better place than in Montreal versus the Canadiens on a Saturday night," said Schenn, the fifth overall pick in last June's draft.The headline all week was of a showdown between Toronto's Mikhail Grabovski(Former Hab player) and Montreal's Sergei Kostitsyn, who have some fire boiling ever since Grabovski was traded to the Leafs.But both of the coaches didn't put them out at the same time, except for a short period of time during a second-period Leafs power play."Mikhail handled it really well," said Wilson. "It was all talk."

Luke Shenn,Nikolai Kulemin, Jeff Finger and Jason Blake(2 in the game) scored the goals for the Leafs in the win.Matt D'Agostini and Tom Kostopoulos scored for Montreal and Carey Price made 36 saves in the lose."Where do I start?" exasperated coach Guy Carbonneau said of his team's weak effort. "We've said since September that if you want to win in this league, you have to compete and you need good goaltending.We had that, but now we're struggling on every front. We have a tough time scoring goals and every time we make a mistake, it's in our net. That's not a good combination." The Canadiens next game will be on Monday in Calgary against the Flames at 9:00 Pm E.T, 7:00Pm P.T on Snet-W and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

TRADE RUMORS FROM:http://www.tsn.ca/tradecentre/feature/?id=9064

Ryan Miller stops 35 shots to lead the Sabers to a Victory over the HABS

The Montreal Canadiens were out-shooting the Sabers throught the game but couldn't put more than 2 goals in the net."Ryan kept us in the game," Sabers defenceman Jaroslav Spacek said. "It should've been two or three-nothing, and it would be tough to come back against a team like the Canadiens.. Every night, he gives us a chance."The Sabers coach Lindy Ruffi was happy with the way Miller played."You need your goalie to play well, and he did that," coach Lindy Ruff said. "He has played very well. There's no secret there."The Canadiens have lost 5 straight games on the road(The Canadiens longest streak since Feb. 24-March 8 2007.)"Obviously, it's not an easy situation for our club," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "We didn't capitalize on the chances we had, and they did."The Sabres did make the most of their chances in this game as Carey Price only faced 22 shots and Price made 19 saves.

It seems every time the Canadiens are on the road they are always down 1 or 2 goals going into the Final frame."It's getting annoying going into the third period down. Every time it seems like playing catch-up," forward Chris Higgins said. "We need to get aggressive."Another problem the Canadiens have on the road is hitting the net, they always shoot wide.Your not going to win games if you don't get the puck to the net and score goals.The Canadiens next game will be tonight against the Leafs at 7:00 Pm E.T On CBC and RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

The Canadiens overpower the Pens by the score of 4-2

After being benched in the third period of Sunday's game, Alex Kovalev bounced back against the Penguins with 6 shots and 1 assist. As you can see Kovalev did step up but could not put the puck in the net."(Kovalev) did what we asked of him and I thought he played well," Carbonneau said. "I thought that line was pretty good tonight, they played against Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin right until the third period when they separated them. They did a good job."Kovalev was not the only player that stepped up but the hole team did."We always say one game doesn't mean anything, but I thought we made a big step forward as a line and as a team," Kovalev said. "We're coming back slowly, but hopefully it won't just be one game. Hopefully it will be the rest of the games for the rest of the season and the playoffs."

Christopher Higgins, Maxim Lapierre,Anderi Kostistsyn and Roman Hamrlik scored for the Habs in the 4-2 win.Carey Price made 23 saves for the Canadiens in the victory.As for the Pens,Rookie Luca Caputi scored on his first career NHL shift and Malkin added another goal in the lose.Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 31 shots for the Penguins in the lose."We got beat by high speed, some of our guys looked really slow tonight," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "We need more desperation from a lot of players, some players were a no-show. It's that simple."The Canadiens next game will be on Friday against the Sabers at 7:30pm E.T on TSN,RDS and MSG-B.

Written by Andrew Di Pardo

Game Preview:Pittsburgh Penguins A.T Montreal Canadiens

By how well the Penguins did in the playoffs last year no one would have expected that the following season the Penguins would be in the race for the 8th and final playoff spot. But surprisingly that's where they stand."We understand the purpose of the playoff push that we're facing all together. We need to work harder." Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. Pittsburgh fell 5-4 to Toronto on Saturday night,becoming 1-5-1 in its last seven road games. "Whether it's a team above you or below you, you still have to give yourself a chance to win," Crosby said.


As for the Habs, they will be without team leading goal scorer Robert Lang due to surgery he had on Sunday night to repair his Achilles tendon on his left leg."It doesn't look good for Lang and for our team," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said.The Canadiens may also be without winger Guillaume Latendresse, who was helped off the ice against Boston after falling heavily into the boards after being checked. Latendresse, in his third year, has nine goals and nine assists.Josh Gorges is also out with a upper body injury.With these injurys the Canadiens will need Kovalev and Plekanec to step up and score more goals for his team.The puck drop for this game will be tonight at 7:30pm E.T On RDS.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

GAUTHIER SUSPENDED FOR 5 GAMES FOR A ELBOW TO THE HEAD ON GORGES

Los Angeles Kings defenceman Denis Gauthier has been suspended for 5 games due to a hit to the head on the Montreal Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges in Sundays game in Montreal.Gauthier will pay $56,451.61, which goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.Gauthier was given a five-minute major penalty for charging and a automatic game misconduct for hitting Gorges at just about 4 minutes into the second period."I was intending to go for the body,I hope he's alright..Said Gauthier.His suspension will end on Valent-times day.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

LANG OUT INDEFINITELY AFTER SURGERY

Today the Montreal Canadiens received bad new about Lang.Robert Lang is out indefinitely after he had surgery to repair his Achilles tendon on his left leg. He got injured at 8:33 into the third period in yesterdays game against the Boston Bruins when he was hit hard into the boards by Stephane Yelle.After the game, Lang was brought to the Montreal General Hospital where he had surgery. Because Lang is the top goal scorer on the Habs now that he is injured the Habs will need their forwards to step up in order to win games.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Montreal plays hard but falls to the best team in the NHL

All three Boston goals came giveaways by the Montreal forwards and defenders, and veteran winger Alex Kovalev was benched for most of the third period for not playing well, as the Bruins beat the Canadiens 3-1 for their 4th straight win against the Canadiens. It seems to be that every time Saku Koivu is in the HABS lineup, Alex Kovalev does not seem to play as well as he does when Koivu's absent.Maybe it's because Kovalev wants himself to have the "C" on his jersey instead of Koivu."I hope that's not the truth or we're in trouble because I'm not taking the C off Saku - that's the bottom line," said Carbonneau, who plans to speak to Kovalev. "If anyone needs a letter to perform on the ice, I have trouble with that. That's not professional at all.Alex is not a rookie or a Softmore. Right now, he's struggling, but we need him if we're going to go far in the Playoffs"

Montreal winger Guillaume Latendresse left 3:28 to go in the 3rd with what seems to be a shoulder injury after he sliped hard into the boards while checking Chuck Kobasew.More bad news for the Habs, Robert Lang got hurt in the back of the foot."He got caught by a skate and it cut a tendon in the back of his foot," said Carbonneau. "It doesn't look good."That mean's that Kovalev will need to step up.The Canadiens next game will be on Tuesday at home against the Penguins.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo

Laraque took place in the Canadiens full practice yesterday morning

Georges Laraque skated with his teammates yesterday for the first time in a long time. “It felt really good to be back on the ice. It had been already almost a month. I almost started feeling like I was a member of the media I was watching my teammates play for so long,” said Laraque, who has been out of the lineup since Boxing Day. “I won’t be back this weekend. I’m probably still two or three full-contact practices away from being back in the lineup and playing in a game.”Laraque kept things light about their 4 game losing streak on Saturday morning by joking around with Alex Kovalev and he was practicing being a defender in the Practice.“Who knows I could be the next P.K. Subban,” laughed Laraque. “I also figured that if I let Kovy deke me out a few times, it will get him pumped up for this weekend or worst case provide him with a blooper reel for his next instructional DVD.”Laraque is still dought-full for today's game, as the Canadiens will look to win 2 in a row once again.

Written By Andrew Di Pardo